


Noodles of Cooking Tips

by aj_linguistik



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: 2k Words for 2k Kudos, ;-;, Brotherly Bonding, Cooking, Cooking Lessons, Fanfic Request, Gen, One Shot, Rin and Yukio being NICE brothers, This isn't shippy I will fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 22:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20478218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aj_linguistik/pseuds/aj_linguistik
Summary: A request from tumblr for my 2k Words for 2k Kudos.Yukio is good at pretty much everything, so why would he ask Rin for help? Rin isn't sure he cares at this point- he's asked him for help learning how to cook, and this alone is exciting.





	Noodles of Cooking Tips

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Probably the only 2k for 2k request that isn't SAO- and I'm grateful! I'm glad to get some variety! Writing this made me cry over how I want Rin and Yukio to just be good brothers to each other ;-; I love these boys so much. The manga is giving me PAIN so have some GOOD BRUBBERS. 
> 
> P.S. to my wonderful friend who requested this: bless you for this prompt. Bless you. I needed this warmth today.

Rin dashed about the kitchen, gathering up all of the supplies he could think of. A rare occurrence had happened, and he wasn’t sure he cared _why_ it happened. He was just happy that it _would_ happen. He selected ingredients and cooking materials in a flash, tossing them all on the counter in an upset hurry, as if taking his time meant that this wouldn’t occur at all. With a battle cry, he snatched up the last bottle of spices and slammed it down on the counter.

“Ack! This won’t do!” he said, sucking his teeth.

Yukio would want to walk in on an orderly kitchen situation. He needed to get everything properly organized before his brother showed up. Normally, making things to Yukio’s standards might be irritating, to say in the least, but since this was a special occasion, he was as happy as ever to clean up the space. He hummed cheerfully as he made a little display out of the ingredients and supplies.

The occasion? Yukio had asked for a quick cooking lesson.

And, again, Rin didn’t know why Yukio wanted to learn how to cook something. He just reveled in the fact that Yukio had come to him—his beloved big brother!—for such advice. For a final touch, Rin donned his cooking apron and whirled around just as his brother entered the kitchen, looking a bit sleepy.

“Morning, Yukio!” he said.

His tail swished back and forth excitedly, as if incapable of keeping his good mood from breaking basic kitchen manners. He couldn’t help it. Yukio never asked him for help with anything. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he wanted Rin’s aid in an area in which he excelled.

Blinking, Yukio glanced around the kitchen, taking it all in. The pan, ready to be used. The spices, all lined up neatly. The vegetables and meat tastefully posed by the spices. A few cooking utensils scattered about. He seemed less sleepy now. His eyebrows lifted.

“Oh, this looks nice,” he said.

If Rin wasn’t mistaken, there was a small smile present on his brother’s lips.

“I’m glad you think so!” he said. “I made sure to get you an apron, too!”

Proudly, Rin lifted up a second apron to show him.

“I made the design myself!” he said.

Yukio’s smile turned into a slight scowl when he saw the design—in crude hiragana handwriting, his name and the words “little brother” written with a variety of silly smiley faces surrounding it.

“Of course, you did…” Yukio mumbled.

Nevertheless, he took the apron and put it on. Rin’s smile widened. His little brother was wearing the apron he’d designed! This was already off to a great start. He pointed over to the sink with a goofy grin.

“Are your hands clean?” he asked.

Yukio nodded.

“Why would I come into the kitchen without clean hands?” he asked.

Rin shrugged.

“I dunno, sometimes I forget before I come in, so I do it in here,” he said.

His brother gave him a slightly concerned look.

“So, I thought we’d go for something well-rounded, so I got all of the ingredients here for a yakisoba dish!” Rin said. “That, and when we’re done, we’ll have a nice dinner!”

Yukio frowned.

“Isn’t that basically just a quick and easy sort of thing?” Yukio asked.

Rin waved a hand.

“Don’t be so quick to call it easy!” he said. “Even the simplest of foods can be messed up if you don’t do it right! And we shouldn’t start with something hard right off of the bat. You need to work yourself up towards the more difficult stuff.”

His brother just hummed.

“So, step number one—make sure the heat is on and ready!” Rin said. “A good way to test if the pan or skillet is warm is to drop a little bit of water onto the surface and see if it turns into steam.”

Each brother took their place in front of a burner and started to heat up their pans. Rin thought it would be best to show Yukio how it was done by doing it himself right next to him—teaching by example at least helped with a physical activity such as cooking. He watched as Yukio tested the heat with water droplets. They hit the surface of the pan and sizzled, dissipating almost as quickly as they’d landed.

“Now what?” Yukio asked.

Rin handed Yukio his portion of pork belly.

“We’re going to fry this up!” he said. “So, we need: cooking oil.”

He pulled out a measuring spoon for ease for his brother and handed it to him.

“I don’t usually measure since I have a knack for it, but you’ll need a tablespoon of cooking oil in the pan. Be careful and add it slowly; oil might spatter out of the pan. Once you have the oil in the pan, add the pork belly. It needs to be cooked until it’s browned; that seals the flavor in and will burn off some of the fatty stuff.”

Yukio kept a close eye on what Rin was doing as he managed his own pan. When Rin stole a glance, he caught Yukio staring at his motions in awe. He quickly turned his attention back to his own pan, being careful to make sure his pork belly was browning nicely.

“How do you know when the inside is all cooked?” Yukio asked.

Rin hummed.

“I guess I just know based on experience,” he said.

He offered Yukio a knife.

“You can always use this to cut around the middle and check the inside if you’re not sure,” he said. “Be sure to cut in the middle—that’s what takes the longest to cook. Since you’ll need to cut the pork up to mix into the soba and vegetables, you aren’t ruining your presentation or anything like that.”

His brother gave a nod. He cautiously held the piece of pork belly with his spatula and sliced into it with the knife. He struggled a bit pulling apart that slit to check inside, but when he finally had it open, he nodded and cooked the piece a little bit longer. When he finished, they put their cooked pork bellies onto plates covered in paper towels and then placed a lid over them.

“This will ensure grease drips off of them and soaks into the paper towel,” Rin said. “The lid will keep the pork from getting too cold while we deal with the vegetables.”

Rin pulled out a couple of cutting boards and knives to work with the vegetables now. He went through the motions of showing Yukio how to cut certain vegetables. He had to intentionally slow down his own chopping in order to help his brother see how it worked. Yukio slowly cut up his portions, likely to keep from making a mistake or cutting himself on a first try. He got a bit faster as he got the hang of it, though. With all of the vegetables cut up, it was then time to stir fry them.

“Now, another dash of oil,” Rin instructed.

Yukio used his trusty measuring spoon to add oil to the pan, while Rin just tipped over the full bottle and put the right amount by means of just knowing how much to add. He slipped his cut vegetables into the pan. They splashed into the oil and started to sizzle. He watched as Yukio mimicked him, being extra careful not to splatter oil on himself.

“The key with stir frying the vegetables is to remember that you’re going to add the noodles to them later,” Rin said.

His brother frowned.

“And how is that the key?” he asked.

Rin smiled.

“I’m so glad you asked!” he said.

Yukio rolled his eyes.

“So, you’ll overcook your vegetables if you cook them all of the way before adding the noodles,” he explained. “They can finish cooking alongside the noodles. Just make sure they have a bit of color to them, and then add the soba.”

It didn’t take much time at all for Rin to stir fry the soba. He then slipped the noodles into his pan with the vegetables and added the sauce. Yukio mimicked his steps.

“Store bought sauce?” he asked.

Rin nodded.

“I won’t intimidate you on your first lesson,” he said. “The sauce isn’t too hard to make, but it takes a lot of time and would be overwhelming to a beginner chef. So, for now, we’re just adding a store-bought sauce, so you get the hang of cooking with the pan.”

Yukio let out a small “ahh…” in acknowledgement.

“Now, with the soba, you want the noodles to be browned,” Rin continued. “The sauce is going to caramelize around the soba and vegetables. I can show you what that looks like as it happens, if you want.”

His brother gave a slight nod.

“After it’s all done, we’ll cut the heat, cut up and add the pork belly, and then, we’ll be all done!” Rin said.

As he cooked up his soba on instinct, he leaned over to help Yukio identify what caramelization looked like. His brother listened with nods and hums as Rin pointed out the visual differences between the sauce when added and the sauce when it was caramelized. He encouraged Yukio to lower his heat on his burner if he thought it was too fast of a process for him, but not by a whole lot.

Both brothers finished up cooking their noodles and removed the pans from the heat. They set about cutting up the pork belly. Rin offered some pointers about knife selection when cutting meat versus cutting vegetables. He showed Yukio how to cut the pork into bite-sized strips for the dish, and then quickly set up a plate of the food to demonstrate. Yukio attempted to make his plate look nice like Rin’s, with a little bit of difficulty on keeping the noodles from escaping off of the edges of the plate.

“Now, for the finishing touch!” Rin said.

He set down a few options on the counter.

“You can add green nori flakes, red pickled ginger, scallions, or mayonnaise, if you like,” Rin said. “Well. You can add anything you want, really.”

Yukio pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose a little.

“If you just added anything, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of a recipe?” he asked.

Rin shook his head.

“The best cooks understand that you can add or take away anything you like from a recipe that you like,” he said. “If you’re cooking, so long as it tastes good in the end, isn’t that what matters the most? I like to play with ingredients and spices to make up flavorful and unique dishes. You don’t always have to follow a set of instructions to make a good meal.”

His brother hummed in thought. Yukio was very stringent about rules; it made sense that he’d want to stick to a recipe without wavering. This was why Rin had noted the topping options—he’d have to decide for himself what he wanted to eat. There was no set rule for what you topped your yakisoba with. He watched with quite a bit of teasing brotherly glee as Yukio’s hand hovered over the options. He finally opted for green nori flakes and sprinkled them over top of his yakisoba. Rin selected mayonnaise and red pickled ginger for his.

“It’s taste test time!” Rin said.

He jabbed his chopsticks into his dish and slipped a bit into his mouth. It tasted wonderful. He hummed with delight. He then offered his dish out to Yukio. His brother hesitated but took a bite of it and chewed with a pensive look on his face.

“Whaddya think?” Rin asked.

Yukio gave a curt nod.

“Excellent, as to be expected of one of your dishes,” he said.

Rin grinned.

“Thank you!” he said. “Shall we test yours, then?”

His brother suddenly appeared a bit nervous. It was unlike him to look like this.

“Hey, I’m sure it’s good, too!” Rin said, trying to sound encouraging. “I watched you the whole time! You did great!”

Yukio frowned, but he grabbed a bit in his chopsticks and slowly brought it up to his mouth. He still seemed wary of his own creation. Rin raised his eyebrows and leaned forward in anticipation. Probably not wanting Rin to bend any closer, Yukio popped the bite into his mouth and chewed. He was silent. Rin felt impatient and started to squirm.

“So? So?” he asked.

He watched Yukio with bated breath. Finally, his brother swallowed.

“I think it’s decent,” he said.

Without further ado, Yukio presented the dish to Rin. Finally! The moment he’d been waiting for! He thrust his chopsticks into Yukio’s dish, pulled out a nice clump of noodles and vegetables, and shoved them into his mouth. The flavors on his tongue practically sang. He grinned.

“Nice job, Yukio!” he said.

The compliment earned him a smile. Rin’s face lit up.

“This was fun!” he said. “Do you want to try to make something else now?”

Yukio chuckled.

“Maybe we can try something different tomorrow,” he said, taking off the apron. “For now, I’ve got to run to the shop, and you’ve got to work on homework.”

Rin’s excitement was extinguished with a single word.

“H-homework?! Why do I have to do homework?!”

Yukio smirked.

“If you’d like, I can teach you how to do that just like you taught me how to make this,” Yukio teased.

He turned to leave, probably smirking where Rin couldn’t see it. He stopped in his tracks at the door.

“Oh, and Rin?”

“What?”

“Thanks for teaching me how to cook yakisoba.”

Rin watched as Yukio walked out, dumbfounded. He gazed over at the two steaming hot dishes that would need to be stored for dinner later. A gentle smile replaced his homework-induced scowl.

“Anytime, Yukio.”


End file.
